What is with this My Little Pony craze?

For a forum that is maintained for fans of video games, I see a surprising amount of references to My Little Pony. What is up with that?
Is this an ironic thing? Like when you pretend to like something for the sake of comedy?

Every time somebody mentions MLP, my body shivers as a sad story about a mom and her child going to watch a new MLP movie in a theatre filled with fat, sweaty Bronies flashes through my mind. The story itself is fake, but it is still sickening to read.